PASADENA – An Arcadia man allegedly found to have had a homemade bomb minutes after visiting his former middle school in January will be held to answer to four felony counts of possession of a destructive or explosive device.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stan Blumenfeld, after hearing witness testimony Tuesday, ruled that Joshua Parra-Davis, 23, would have to answer to three counts of reckless or malicious possession of destructive or explosive devices in certain places.

He also will face one count of possession of a destructive device. One of the devices was found in a backpack that Parra-Davis allegedly placed near a bank, while the others were found in his bedroom following a search of his residence, authorities said.

Parra-Davis, who is being held at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, is due back at Pasadena Superior Court on June 15 to enter a plea.

If convicted on all four felony counts, Parra-Davis could face up to 19 years in prison.

The first charge involves a Jan. 14 incident in which Parra-Davis was seen using a video camera and trying to open classrooms at the Foothills Middle School campus before walking toward the nearby Bank of America. After witnesses saw him putting something into a black backpack or duffle bag in the bushes near the bank, officers found what appeared to be a homemade pipe bomb in the bag, according to police.

Parra-Davis was detained, Arcadia officers evacuated nearby businesses and placed the school on lockdown as a precaution and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Squad detonated the device.

Dayna Davis, the defendant’s mother, said her son later told her he had grabbed fireworks materials from home before camping out at Chantry Flat that night in order to scare bears and other wild animals away.

“He admits he had possession of things he shouldn’t have had but there was no intent to do any damage to anybody,” she said before Tuesday’s preliminary hearing. “There was no intent to hurt anybody or destroy any property. He simply grabbed those things as a kid would just packing.”

Parra-Davis wanted to enlist in the military, loves playing with guns and enjoys blowing things up in the backyard like young men do, she said.

“It’s sad our society is in a heightened alert … but it’s a boy thing,” she said. “He grew up with me on farms, on ranches, in very rural settings.”

The other two counts that allege reckless or malicious possession of a destructive device involve items found in Parra-Davis’ bedroom when officers conducted a search of his mother’s Arcadia home after his arrest. Those items include a grenade and ammunition, both of which had hobby fuses attached to them, according to law enforcement testimony. The fourth charge involves the alleged possession of .98-caliber ammunition.

Parra-Davis’ attorney, Ann Gottesman, said all parties agree that there was no evidence of maliciousness on the defendant’s part, and argued that even charges of recklessness were not justified since the devices would have to be ignited for them to be dangerous.

However, the judge ruled that only one of the four charges, the one involving the .98-caliber ammunition which had no fuse attached, would not allege recklessness or malicious intent.

Brenda Gazzar is a multilingual multimedia reporter who has worked for a variety of news outlets in California and in the Middle East since 2000. She has covered a range of issues, including breaking news, immigration, law and order, race, religion and gender issues, politics, human interest stories and education. Besides the Los Angeles Daily News and its sister papers, her work has been published by Reuters, the Denver Post, Ms. Magazine, the Jerusalem Post, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, The Cairo Times and others. Brenda speaks Spanish, Hebrew and intermediate Arabic and is the recipient of national, state and regional awards, including a National Headliners Award and one from the Associated Press News Executives' Council. She holds a dual master's degree in Communications/Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

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